Wright Hires Darrison

This actually popped up in my in-box yesterday, but I was up to my eyeballs in redistricting maps and unable to get to it…Assemblyman Keith Wright has signed on with fundraiser Cindy Darrison for the 2012 election cycle.

I received an email from Darrison announcing a fundraiser for Wright 2012 at the Victory Cafe in Albany next Monday night (which is, for the record, a legislative session night; reformers have been pushing for years to ban political fundraisers from being held on session nights, but to no avail).

Wright is one of a number of Manhattan Democrats jockeying for position in case Rep. Charlie Rangel might finally decide to retire. (Not this year, so far, but there’s time yet; let’s see what his district looks like when LATFOR gets done with it).

As chairman of the Manhattan Democratic Party, he’s also believed to have something of a leg up – particularly if Rangel retires mid-term, sparking a special election in which the party leaders, not the voters, would select the nominee. There is some concern among Bronx Democrats that they’ll end up getting the short end of the stick in the redistricting process, providing key voters to keep NY-15 a “black” district, but not getting a commensurate say in the district’s weighted vote.

Darrison told me in an email yesterday that Wright is focused on his re-election campaign. “We are thrilled to be working with Keith,” she said. “He’s just so solid!”

Wright hasn’t done much fundraising to speak of lately. According to his Jan. 15 filing with the state Board of Elections, he raised nothing over the past six months and has $49,642 on hand. He has started a “Wright 2012? campaign committee, but so far it hasn’t filed any reports.

Darrison is a veteran Democratic fundraiser. Her past client list includes former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, former Gov. David Paterson and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Her current list includes Sen. Dan Squadron, a Brooklyn Democrat who has $134,944 in an unspecified campaign committee (he might run for citywide office in NYC in 2013), and $125,875 in his Senate account.

Darrison is also working with Assemblyman Micah Kellner, an Upper East Side Democrat who has $166,513 on hand in his campaign committee as of Jan. 15.